Teaching Related Policies and Resources
CEE Teaching Allocation Policy
To download: Click here
Policies
Information for New Academic Hires: Click here
Guide to Course Policies for Instructors: Click here
Electronic Devices in Examinations Policy: Click here
Helpful Links
PeopleSoft Enterprise Solutions: Click here
University Faculty and Staff Page: Click here
SPARK-ENG TA: Click here
SAIP – Checklist
To ensure you’ve properly factored the new Student Academic Integrity Policy (SAIP) into your courses for Fall 2025/Winter 2026, please see the: Checklist
Academic Integrity and Discipline
Resource Page: Click here
Student Academic Integrity Policies: Click here
Dealing with Missed Term Work and Midterm Exams
To download: Click here
Message from The Chair / Associate Dean Undergraduate Studies / Associate Dean Graduate Studies
Dear all,
It has come to our attention that some of you religiously follow the “recommended” grade distribution curve. Please note that according to the University Regulations, as described here, “Grades in any course, examination or other academic assessment shall not be mandated on the basis of a curve or historic distribution of student grades.” You can read Samer’s opinion on this topic. Indeed, the University policy on Grading Procedure states that historical mean grades “…are inappropriate to use for small classes, and must not ever be applied rigidly even in large classes.”
It is difficult, even for seasoned instructors, to choose a fair letter grade distribution. Use your best judgement and common sense to decide how the marks will correspond to letter grades. We are striving for meaningful, fair assessments of performance. According to the University’s Assessment and Grading Policy, Grades reflect judgements of student achievement. These judgements are based on a combination of absolute achievement and relative performance in a class.”
The University policy on Grading Procedure states “There will be no pre-determined quota of letter grades in a course.” There is nothing wrong to assign many As or A+s if students get top marks in the course; we should not apply a “curve” to bring the average down to comply with some “recommended” distribution. Or the reverse, if the majority of students have low marks they should get many Cs or C-s, and we should not artificially grade them up just because the typical average of a class should be B+, for instance. For any questions, talk to one of us
Clarity is key. Communicate to your students how the term marks will be translated into a final letter grade. According to the Calendar’s “Evaluation Procedures and Grading System“, the syllabus should include: “the process by which the term marks will be translated into a final letter grade for the course.” This process is expected to be consistent with the University Assessment and Grading Policy and the Grading Procedure. It is highly recommended that you share samples of grading scale (i.e. letter grade cut-offs) for your course in the first lecture and explain to students that various factors might lead to slight deviation from the provided grading scale, allowing some flexibility when assigning the final grade. Additionally, you should always define the criteria for failing in a course. Establishing these expectations at the outset provides some clarity to students and helps prevent potential misunderstandings or conflicts that might arise.
Regards,
Samer, Amy, and Zaher
Uploading Marks
When submitting final grades for both undergraduate and graduate courses, the Faculty of Engineering requires that instructors upload a spreadsheet that contains:
- A breakdown of the marks
- An Engineering Grade Report Form for the year of the course
Grade Change Procedure for Undergraduate Courses
Instructors are now asked to submit grade change requests using the Engineering Grade Change Form for undergraduate courses. Please indicate the reason for the change when filling out the form. The Associate Deans will review grade change requests that are received through this form for their respective departments.
Grade changes should be submitted in accordance with the University of Alberta Grading System. In particular, please note that a remark of ‘1’ (e.g., F1) should be used to indicate if a student did not write (i.e., missed) a deferred final exam that they were scheduled to write.
Graduate Grading Standards
Please communicate to your students how the term marks will be translated into a final letter grade. According to the University Assessment and Grading Policy, “General assessment methods and grading standards must be communicated clearly to students at the beginning of the course.” Establishing these expectations at the outset helps prevent potential misunderstandings or conflicts that might arise in the future. More information is available in the Evaluation Procedures and Grading System.
Consolidated Deferred Final Exam
The Faculty provides a new, more consolidated, process for scheduling paper based deferred final exams and re-exams to assist instructors with scheduling the exams and rooms. This is not an option for online exams.
If an instructor chooses to take part in this process, please ensure that your course syllabus indicates the dates of the deferred exam. The Student Services Office will schedule your deferred and/or re-exam for a specified day in January for the Fall term courses and in May for the Winter term courses. Student Services will attempt to ensure that there are no conflicts with other Engineering courses and notify students and instructors once the room and time is set.
The Associate Dean of the department will be in contact with the participating instructors to coordinate the proctoring of the deferred exams.
Final Exam Deferrals
Students who have missed a final exam and qualify for a deferred exam according to the criteria in the University Calendar should submit a request within two business days of the missed final exam, or as soon as they are reasonably able to do so. Note that students cannot apply for a deferral until the exam has ended.
Applying for a Reexamination
Undergraduate students who have written and submitted a final examination for an Engineering course may be considered for a reexamination provided the following conditions are met:
- The course was failed.
- The final examination is 40% or greater, as originally scheduled for the class as a whole.
- For a Fall Term course, the student achieved a Term Grade Point Average of 2.0 inclusive of the failed course.
- For Winter Term and Fall/Winter courses, a Fall/Winter GPA of 2.0 inclusive of the failed course.
- Important: Please be aware that there is a fee for reexaminations, payable through Bear Tracks. Payment of the required fee will normally be made at the time of approval of the application but must be made no later than two weeks after approval.
Reexaminations are not permitted for students who were granted a deferred final examination in accordance with Absence from Final Exams but did not write. More information about reexaminations can be found in the University Calendar.
Exam Accommodations
Information on exam accommodations for students and instructors can be found on the Academic Success Centre website.
Evening Graduate Final Examination Scheduling
Final exams for graduate courses should align with the University exam planner. However, for courses offered at 5:00 p.m. or later, examinations will be conducted in the last regularly scheduled class period before exams week.
Helpful Information Before the Semester Starts
If your course(s) has/have been identified to collect certain Graduate Attributes, you will receive a reminder email close to the end of the term to submit the data. These attributes are integral to our curriculum and help ensure that our students gain the necessary skills and knowledge. GA data needs to be collected by the course instructors and submitted after every semester to Standardized Engineering Accreditation System (SEAS), which is built in the FoE intranet. If you have any questions regarding the GAs or their collection process, please contact me or the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies.
The class syllabus is also built in the FoE intranet, which the course instructor needs to fill out. This is the official syllabus that the instructor will need for their class. The instructor will need to have it ready for the first class.
A special note for all graduate courses: All instructors of graduate courses are asked to use the Online Syllabus System, for syllabus preparation. The Online Syllabus provides students with essential information and resources and aligns the syllabus content with the pertinent University policies, described in Evaluation Procedures and Grading System.
Helpful Information
- This document provides an outline/flowchart that covers a number of issues that you should be aware of when teaching a class.
- Office of the Registrar: Exam Guidelines for Instructors
- Office of the Registrar: Assessment and Grading Information
- Bear Tracks: Uploading Final Grades into Bear Tracks, you have 5 days after you administer your final exam to upload your grades to Beartracks.
- Bear Tracks: What do I do if I’ve submitted my grade roster in error?
- The calendar states that the final exam needs to be between 30% and 70%, see here. Also, for students to be able to take a re-examination of the final, the final exam needs to be >40%. So, good practice would be to have your final in the range 40%-70%.
- Midterms are the only term work activities that can have their weights transferred to the Final Exam. The weight of assignments/labs/etc. can’t be transferred to the final. Details on this can be found here. Download the second PDF (Academic and Engineering Course Policies for Instructors (pdf – login required)) and review page 11-12.
- Deferred exams are only available for Final Exams. These are not available for mid-term exams. Students need to apply for these here.
- Guidance for missed work and student absences: We have created a document with useful guidance here.
- How do I choose the grade brackets for my course? Is there any guidance? The FoE has created some guidance that can be found here. In CEEMP, we want our instructors to focus on providing great instruction and fair assessments to our students — it is not the end of the world if your grade distribution does not look like the attached file. Our department chair, Dr. Samer Adeeb, is especially passionate about this topic. Here is one of Dr. Adeeb’s articles about grade curving that you might find helpful. Though it is encouraged for our instructors to read and share the article, the department trusts your professional judgement in determining the best approach for your course.
- Text Book information: You will receive an email regarding assigning the textbook for your class. Need to do this as soon as possible so that they have time to get the books in.
Canvas Resources
Helpful Information Before the Semester Starts
Information on the new student evaluation process of courses can be found here. Some important points to note:
- There are a number of areas that students will provide feedback on, including: Course design, Utility of course resources, Graded work, Course delivery, Instructional approach, Class climate, and Supplementary.
- The evaluation will be electronic only.
- Instructors are required to give students 15 minutes of classroom time to complete surveys. This took effect Fall 2023.